KENT COUNTY DEMOCRATS WANT TO PUT SOME LIFE IN THE
PARTY

On the way to the Democrats' "Belle Everett" Dinner
in Kent County, some of them passed a pickup truck full
of household possessions, as if the driver was getting
out of town.

They thought it might have been Micheal C. Miller, a
onetime Democratic congressional candidate with an
approach as unusual as the spelling of his first name.

Mike Miller was the Bad Old Days. He was barely an
excuse for a candidate, and not just because of his
petty arrest record, but for calling Saddam Hussein a
legitimate leader like George W. Bush and for putting up
a sign urging people to vote -- on the wrong date.

Mike Miller recruited himself to run not once, but
twice in 2000 and 2002, a hapless example of what
happens when the party's strategy against someone like
U.S. Rep. Michael N. Castle, a Republican who also has
been a governor and lieutenant governor, is
unconditional surrender.

All too often, the Kent County Democrats have come
from that school of whistling past the campaign
graveyard, hiding their eyes while county Republicans
went unopposed. They were so lifeless, they could not
even deliver the county for Democrats like Gov. Ruth Ann
Minner, who is one of them, in 2004, U.S. Sen. Joseph R.
Biden Jr. in 2002 or U.S. Sen. Thomas R. Carper in 2000.

If Mike Miller or his look-alike was driving away,
the Kent County Democrats have reason to hope he was
taking the Bad Old Days with him, because they are
determined not to be a party of lie-down-and-die in
2006.

They turned out an unusually large crowd, a sellout
of 300 people, on Monday evening for their annual "Belle
Everett" Dinner at the Felton Fire Hall, home of
renowned fried oyster, slippery dumpling and chicken
salad fare.

They also have matched the Republicans in recruitment
for legislative seats -- sure, Republican Reps.
Pamela J. Thornburg and Donna D. Stone are unopposed,
but so are Democratic Sen. Nancy W. Cook and Rep. Bruce
C. Ennis -- and they are competing for two open seats,
as well.

The Democrats think their prospects are particularly
promising for Robert E. Walls, running for the vacancy
created by the retirement of state Rep. G. Wallace Caulk
Jr., a quirky Republican-turned-independent, in the 33rd
Representative District, which stretches from Magnolia
to Milford. Ulysses S. Grant, the Republican candidate,
is coming off a tough primary, which he won by 25 votes.

The Kent County Democrats were feeling better than
they have for a long time. "It is a good year to be a
Democrat, and I think we're going to win it all," said
Cook, the state senator, no doubt more optimistic than
prophetic, but it was the thought that counted.

Beyond local events, the national Democratic trend
contributed to the mood. Carper all but capered as he
listed U.S. Senate races that could give his party the
majority, lingering especially over the one in Montana,
where the Democratic candidate is Jon Tester, a farmer
with a neck suitable for World Wide Wrestling.

"He's built like a truck, he's got a crew cut, and I
predict that half the guys in the Democratic caucus will
be wearing flat tops and white t-shirts," Carper
quipped.

Carper led a head table that included the rest of the
Democrats' statewide ticket -- Treasurer Jack A. Markell,
Dennis Spivack for the Congress, Beau Biden for attorney
general, and Michael John Dalto for auditor.

What counted for Carper on this night was not just
that he was a senator and ex-governor, but also a former
treasurer, the glory office for the dinner. Belle
Everett was a Kent County grande dame who became the
first Democratic woman elected statewide as treasurer in
1958. The office also paid dividends for Markell, who
was invited to be the master of ceremonies.

The Kent County Democrats have watched for some time
while Delaware went increasingly Democratic without
them, the results driven by New Castle County, where
almost two-thirds of the voters live. Kent County's wish
to follow the leader was evident because of the presence
of New Castle County Democratic Chair James F. Paoli at
the dinner.

It still would leave Sussex County as a Democratic
headache, but one county at a time. Sussex County is so
Republican, the only thing redder is those campaign
signs for Republican Ferris W. Wharton for attorney
general, so blood-red that they scream prosecutor.

The credit for the Kent County Democrats' emergence
is going largely to Abby L. Betts, the county chair
whose efforts have been so admired that the party
surprised her at the dinner with a special award. Lt.
Gov. John C. Carney Jr. presented it to her, and there
she stood, tearing up, with Carney on one side of her
and Markell on the other.

It sent a signal that was hard to miss. Carney and
Markell may be at each other's throat for governor in
2008, but nothing comes between them and a rising
Democratic Party in Kent County in 2006.